5 Memorable “Cave Scenes” in YA Books

Some of our favorite books have memorable “love scenes” and “fight scenes” and “death scenes”. Apparently, they also have memorable “cave scenes”–scenes that are set inside caves.

My The Mysterious Reading Society friends and I started talking about this out of nowhere while waiting for our detained discussion leader to arrive. He never did. *hem hem*

So anyway…

1.  Achilles and Patroclus consummate their relationship in “The Song of Achilles”

a.k.a. While the centaur mentor is away, the boys will play.  😛

“The Song of Achilles” is one of my favorite books ever because of the way Madeline Miller took me on an emotional roller coaster with this story.

One of the turning points in the book is when Achilles and Patroclus finally became lovers in the truest sense of the word.  It’s tastefully written and actually rather emotional.

The cave smelled hot and sweet, like fruit beneath the sun. Our eyes met, and we did not speak. Fear rose in me, sudden and sharp. This was the moment of truest peril, and I tensed, fearing his regret.

He said, “I did not think—” And stopped. There was nothing in the world I wanted more than to hear what he had not said.

It’s a Cave Scene and a Love Scene!  😛

Interestingly enough, Chiron’s Cave is one of the few places in the world where Achilles’ goddess mother Thetis’ omniscient eyes cannot see through.  Convenient, eh?  😉

2.  Karou and Akiva stare each other down in “Days of Blood and Starlight”

a.k.a.  Karou and Akiva’s TV drama moment

Spoiler warning for those who haven’t read the second book of Laini Taylor’s wonderful series, “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”!

At the end of “Days of Blood and Starlight”, Karou and Akiva, along with a handful of chimaera and seraphim, bide their time in a cavern as they wait to fight against a common enemy.  And because Taylor’s prose is more capable of triggering a “wave of feels” than I ever can…

Her eyes are pulled elsewhere, across the cavern to where Akiva sits at another fire with his own soldiers around him.

He is looking back at her.

As ever when their eyes meet, it is like a lit fuse searing a path through the air between them. These past days, when this has happened, one or the other would turn quickly away, but this time they rest and let the fuse burn. They are filled with the sight of each other. Here in this cavern, this extraordinary gathering—this seethe of colliding hatreds, tamed temporarily by a shared hate—could be their long-ago dream seen through a warped mirror. This is not how it was meant to be. They are not side by side as they once imagined. They are not exultant, and they no longer feel themselves to be the instruments of some great intention. They are creatures grasping at life with stained hands. There is so much between them, all the living and all the dead, but for a moment everything falls away and the fuse burns brighter and nearer, so that Karou and Akiva almost feel as if they are touching.

Tomorrow they will start the apocalypse.

Tonight, they let themselves look at each other, for just a little while.

I saw that scene in my head as if it was a TV drama, wherein the camera shows the two protagonists from all angles while staring at each other, complete with a voice-over.  “Tomorrow, we will start the apocalypse.”

I’ve been watching too many Korean dramas?  Why, yes, I sure have.

3.  Katniss and Peeta put on the act of their lives in “The Hunger Games”

a.k.a.  Katniss and Peeta’s REAL TV drama moment

Katniss tries to put on a “girl madly in love” act as she tries to cure Peeta’s injuries.  But it is only when she drops the act and lets her real feelings show that their mentor Haymitch sends them a reward.

“Katniss,” he says. I go over to him and brush the hair back from his eyes. “Thanks for finding me.”

“You would have found me if you could,” I say. His forehead’s burning up. Like the medicine’s having no effect at all. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I’m scared he’s going to die.

“Yes. Look, if I don’t make it back—” he begins.

“Don’t talk like that. I didn’t drain all that pus for nothing,” I say.

“I know. But just in case I don’t—” he tries to continue.

“No, Peeta, I don’t even want to discuss it,” I say, placing my fingers on his lips to quiet him.

“But I—” he insists.

Impulsively, I lean forward and kiss him, stopping his words. This is probably overdue anyway since he’s right, we are supposed to be madly in love. It’s the first time I’ve ever kissed a boy, which should make some sort of impression I guess, but all I can register is how unnaturally hot his lips are from the fever. I break away and pull the edge of the sleeping bag up around him. “You’re not going to die. I forbid it. All right?”

“All right,” he whispers.

And then a pot of broth drops from the sky.  And the shippers (as in the people of Panem) all squee.   

4.  Sirius and Buckbeak co-habitate in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”

a.k.a.  The Domestic Saga of Padfoot and Claws

At the end of “Prisoner of Azkaban”, Sirius Black escapes with the hippogriff Buckbeak and spends some time hiding from dementors and Ministry officials together in a far-away cave.

I dunno about you, but I feel like there’s a spin-off sitcom in there somewhere.

The cave scene in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” with the locket horcrux and the lake of zombies was pretty awesome, too.

5.  Colin and Lindsey share stories in the dark in “An Abundance of Katherines”

a.k.a.  It’s Not That Dark If We Have A Bottle of Moonshine

Lindsey takes Colin to her “secret hideout” where they hang out and share stories.   There is no sex, but there is alcohol.  And lots of cute dialogue.

“It’s weird talking to you; I can’t see you at all.”

“I can’t see you either.”

“We’re invisible. I’ve never been here with someone else. It’s different being invisible with someone.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Colin was probably starting to like Lindsey already, but some of his little brain cells keep shouting “But she’s not a Katherine!”

 
So, what is it about caves, huh?  

But what about you?  Are there any memorable Cave Scenes from your favorite books?  🙂